


Some Like It Hot

by Overanalyzer



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, M/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-10-04
Updated: 2015-10-04
Packaged: 2018-04-24 18:05:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,038
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4929766
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Overanalyzer/pseuds/Overanalyzer
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>When a runaway meets an agent of the Titans during a life-or-death situation, destinies are changed forever.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Some Like It Hot

**Author's Note:**

> Because shipping Leo with Octavian wasn't random enough, I guess.

_'Well,_ Leo thought morbidly, _'at least it only breathes fire._ ' 

Fire, he could deal with. Could've been ice, or poison, or laser ninjas. Now he just needed to avoid getting crushed to death long enough to get away, and everything would be perfect.

It was just his luck, he figured. He finds a nice deserted underpass to sleep, not too cold, no rain. Some reasonably safe-looking food left on top of a trash can. It had all the makings of what Leo would call an A+ night.

And then came the robo-bull.

You see, because people? People, Leo could deal with. Trip 'em up and run; get 'em to look away and run; light some stuff on fire and watch _them_ run. Yeah, people were easy. But, surprise surprise, giant metal fire-breathing bulls were a little outside his wheelhouse. Fire breath wasn't so bad, he supposed. Played hell with clothes but it wasn't like _he_ could burn. Worst case scenario with fire was him running around naked for a while, and that was really just a bad thing for everyone else. But this thing had horns, and hooves, and it was eight feet tall and looked like it weighed six or seven tons. Not exactly a fair fight, all _that_ up against five feet of scrawny Mexican runaway.

Which is how he was currently coping with his situation. Running away, that is.

He wasn't even sure where he was. Kansas, he knew that. Not such a big town, but he couldn't remember the name right then. Atkins? Atchison? Something with an 'A.' He'd find out in the morning, if he wasn't street pizza by then. Not an outcome with good odds. He made it to what passed for downtown; a dozen or so stores and fast food joints, a movie theater, and an all-night diner. The stores and the theater were closed, and there was nobody out. Probably a good thing. Leo wasn't sure he wanted to see if the big bronze bovoid would chase somebody else. He was almost afraid it would. Not like he needed _more_ guilt.

Also a good thing: narrow alleyways. There was about four feet of space between a Dollar General and a Fred's, which seemed kind of redundant to Leo, but then what did he know about business placement? Right now, he had a way out: the bull was too wide to fit, and he thought he could dart through and get away before the monster could catch up going the long way around. Ducking into the crevice, he made it halfway before he heard a great roar, and the ground and walls shook around him. He looked back and his jaw dropped.

Turns out, big metal bulls were bendier than they look ed. The thing had wedged itself between the buildings, shattering the brick around it, and progressing toward him far quicker than it had any right to. Leo turned and started running, full tilt, toward the end of the alley. He could feel it's burning breath behind him, closing in faster than he could reach the street and the dude standing there.

Hang on, 'dude standing there'?

No, he realized abruptly, he _wasn't_ imagining things. There was indeed a guy standing on the side walk, observing Leo and the bull while leaning on a spear. He had on what looked like bronze armor over a t-shirt and jeans, and his head was covered by an old-timey helmet, like something out of a gladiator movie. There was a spear-wielding gladiator in the middle of a sleepy Kansas town, and Leo couldn't even say that was the weirdest thing he'd seen that night.

"Get down!" The mystery man raised the spear above his head.

_'He's gonna throw it!'_ Leo realized with shock. Mystery Kansas Gladiator was about to save him from becoming 105 pounds of ground Leo. _'If I get out of the way so he doesn't impale me!'_ He threw himself into the dirt, wincing as his arms lost a few layers of skin. The spear sailed overhead, and he really hoped the *clank* he heard was it hitting something important. Crawling on his hands and knees, Leo rose just as he made it to the mouth of the alley...

...and just in time for the BOOM, as the shockwave knocked him right back onto his face. And onto the stranger.

Disoriented, he lay on Mystery Man's chest for a few moments, letting the ringing in his ears confirm that he was indeed alive.

"Do you mind?" The breastplate shook with the stranger's words. He sounded younger than Leo would have expected.

"Oh. Sorry!" Leo rolled off and struggle to stand as the stranger rose. "What-what was that?"

"That," the guy said, peering down the alley, "was a Colchis Bull, getting blown up by a magic spear."

Leo blinked. Opened his mouth, and then closed it again. Blinked once more, for good measure.

"Y'know what?" he said finally, "I got nothing. That explanation makes as much sense as anything."

"Yeah," the stranger chuckled beneath his helmet, "it's like that sometimes. First monster?" He said like it was nothing. Like he was asking about trying a new flavor of coffee at Starbucks and not the Invasion of the Cyber-Cow.

"...Yeah. Not your first, I guess?"

"No, I'm kinda used to it. What's your name?"

Leo hesitated. He'd been down this road with people he'd met before. They might act nice in the beginning, until they learned what he was. What he could do. But this was guy clearly used to the weird already, and he had just saved Leo from getting much, much shorter than he was already, courtesy of a size 18 hoof.

"I'm Leo. Leo Valdez. You?"

The stranger took off his helmet. He was pretty young after all; a year or two older than Leo at most. His features were Asian, black hair coming loose from the helm and falling in his face. He had an eye patch over his left eye, which Leo barely even noticed after everything else that had happened.

"My name's Ethan," he said, holding out a hand, "Ethan Nakamura. It's nice to meet you, Leo. I think we've got a lot to talk about."


End file.
